More than just muscles and scars
by Magdelope
Summary: A fill for a kmeme prompt wanting to see Liara learning about and adoring Shepard's muscles, scars and tattoos. Femslash, like always. :)


One blue eye opened slowly as she wondered where she was. She couldn't help but notice the lump of worry that had settled in the pit of her stomach. _What was worrying her so? _The asari started calming when she remembered that it was over. Saren was dead. The council safe, Sovereign defeated. And Shepard, the commander who had saved everyone, was sleeping safely beside her. It had been almost a month since the fight and Liara still felt herself wake up, her body strained and stressed as if it weren't over yet. The asari couldn't let go of the feeling that their struggle wasn't over yet. Shepard helped, though.

Liara turned to look at the commander, who was sleeping next to her. Shepard had a stressed wrinkle between her eyebrows and one of her hands was shaped into a fist. The other hand disappeared under the pillow and was most likely gripping the gun that Liara knew was kept there. Even in sleep her brave, and occasionally ruthless, commander was ready for a fight. Liara sighed when she fingered the soft fabric of the shirt that Shepard was wearing.

Despite sharing her bed with Liara several times in the past month, Shepard never took her clothes off and the one time that Liara had accidently walked in on her changing, the commander had given her her back while quickly putting on a sports bra and t-shirt. It didn't matter that Liara told her that she was beautiful or that she loved the feeling of Shepard's skin under her fingers, the commander wasn't comfortable with nakedness. This was the reason why Liara now found herself completely naked next to a fully dressed Shepard.

Liara moved her hand down to the spectre's arm and started stroking her bare arm, tracing the tattoo that was there. It was a perfect replica of the N7 insignia and the only tattoo that Liara had seen even though she knew that the commander had more. Liara leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to the tattoo, wanting her lover to wake up.

Shepard was starting to stir a little, always a light sleeper, waking up from Liara's light touches and smiled.

"Good morning," she said, moving her arm away from the pillow and stretching her still-aching limbs, "Ugh, I always think that sleeping will help."

"Of course sleep doesn't help much when you sleep as if you're preparing for battle," Liara said calmly as she leaned down and kissed Shepard on the lips. As she was starting to pull back again, Shepard smirked and Liara yelped as the Spectre sat up and pushed her back on the bed.

"I know what will help me relax," she said with a smirk, "And I'm sure it will do a thing or two for you in the process."

Liara closed her eyes as Shepard started a (by now) familiar trail of kisses over her jaw, down her neck and then settling over her collar bones, occasionally straying to gently bite a blue shoulder.

…

"Mmm, see, just what I needed. I feel fully energized," Shepard said in a teasing tone and Liara swatted her still clothed stomach.

"Why don't you take this off?" She asked as she turned to her side to look at Shepard and rested her head in her hand while the other tugged at Shepard's shirt, "It's hardly fair that I never get to see you naked."

Shepard stopped smiling and sat up.

"It is not that I don't want you to see me naked," she said, "There are just some things that... I'm not comfortable with. Some things that I would rather you didn't know."

"But I want to know," Liara insisted. "As silly as it might seem, I want to know everything about you."

Shepard seemed to think for a moment, her face frowning. Liara moved forward, wanting her to relax and stop worrying so much. She wanted her commander to feel comfortable enough to share her past with her.

"Just..." Shepard began as she slowly reached down to pull her t-shirt off, but didn't continue her sentence. She had never been worried about anyone seeing her naked, her scars and tattoos a proud mark of how much of a survivor she was. But she really didn't want Liara to know. She had never cared before, never even stopped to think about how she was coming across. She ran her ship the way she ran her life: as a renegade. But Liara made her soft and she wanted to shield her lover from the harsher truths of her past.

Liara couldn't help but gasp when Shepard's t-shirt finally came off, exposing her torso and the scars and markings that adorned her there. Shepard looked down, thinking that Liara's gasp was due to shock or revulsion, but that couldn't have been further from the truth.

"You are so beautiful," Liara breathed, "So incredibly beautiful." She touched Shepard's naked shoulder for the first time and couldn't help but tremble when she felt the muscle there. She trailed her fingers downwards, completely mesmerised by the sight of her lover. Shepard dared to look up now, looking hopeful but still insecure. She leaned back and let Liara explore to her heart's delight.

Liara had known that Shepard had had scars and tattoos but she was still surprised. The spectre had had a hard life, growing up as an orphan on earth, a _biotic_orphan at that, joining a gang and then joining the Alliance at the age of 18. Her service hadn't been easy either. A sole survivor of Akuze. There was a reason why Shepard always felt tense.

At first Liara couldn't get over the simple pleasure of having bare skin under her hands and she ran her hands over Shepard's arms and shoulders but soon it wasn't enough and she wanted to explore. Shepard had seemed to relax and was laid back with her eyes closed, simply enjoying Liara's touch.

The first thing Liara noticed when her eyes travelled lower was the horrid, angry scar that stretched from the top of Shepard's left breast towards her navel. Liara couldn't help but shudder when she noticed that Shepard's left nipple was simply missing; she didn't want to think about how Shepard had gotten that scar. Without noticing, Liara had stopped moving her hands and Shepard opened one eye to see what it was Liara was looking at. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry.

...

Shepard closed her eyes again, there had been no repulsion in Liara's eyes and she was feeling braver by the moment.

"I was fifteen," she said as her arm went out and traced her scar with a finger, "some of the older gang members had pissed of a rivalring gang. They captured some of the younger members to teach us a lesson, or maybe to just scare us. It doesn't really matter. Compared to what happened to the others... I was lucky."

Liara nodded slowly, afraid that her voice wouldn't carry. Shepard had stopped tracing the scar and put her arm behind her head instead. Liara stared at the scar for almost a minute but then she dared to touch it, tracing it with a blue finger. When she reached the part where Shepard's nipple should have been, Shepard's breathing hitched; the area was clearly still sensitive. Liara couldn't stop herself but leaned down and let her tongue taste the scar, causing Shepard to uncharacteristically whimper. Liara continued by kissing eagerly over the area, noticing happily how goosebumps formed on the spectre's arm. She eventually kissed her way to Shepard's other breast, revelling in how her lover continued to whimper at her kisses and licks. She eventually pulled back and stared into Shepard's green eyes that were looking at her now.

"Why didn't you let me do this sooner?" Liara asked, "when you like it so much."

"I don't know," Shepard whispered, and Liara pressed another kiss to her skin, "I'm letting you now."

Liara nodded and continued her exploration, kissing over the tattoo that adorned Shepard's right collarbone. It was a star, except that on one of the siders four flames stood out. Shepard knew what the asari was looking at and chuckled softly.

"I got that one when I had just joined the Alliance. Me and some other recruits were dared to drink hanar liquor. When I woke up three days later that was there. I still don't know how I got it. Turns out I can't hold my liquor as well as someone who is 85% water."

"Hanars aren't 85 %..." Liara started saying but Shepard silenced her with the raise of a hand.

"Of course, joking," Liara said, feeling foolish, "what about this one?" She continued instead and touched the lette that sat upon Shepard' hip.

Shepard looked sad for a moment but didn't even consider not telling Liara how she had gotten it.

"It is the name of the gang I ran with before joining the alliance. It was the first tattoo I got."

Shepard considered telling Liara more, telling her about how the group had been her family; ironically enough giving her stability when her world had been nothing but chaos. How she and her first girlfriend had tattood the gang's name on each other's hips, thinking naively that they were going to be together forever. But Liara had already moved on; she was now stroaking the biggest and ugliest scar on Shepard's body – a huge burn that covered almost all of Shepard's right side.

"That's from a thresher mawl attack," Shepard said before Liara had a chance to ask, "it's... it's quite ugly."

Liara shook her head but then realised that Shepard couldn't see it as the commander was still lying back with her eyes clothes.

"There is nothing about you that is ugly," Liara said softly.

...

Liara proceeded by counting the bullet scars that Shepard had on her right arm and made sure to kiss every single one. Shepard had made her feel loved and desired a million times over during the past couple of weeks and Liara wanted to return the favour. She played with the scar on Shepard's right leg and then moved towards the last visible tattoo that her human had. It was a small omega symbol the top of her left thigh. Liara enjoyed how Shepard's muscles tensed when she started stroking the leg and even gently running her nails up and down Shepard's legs always stopping before reaching the apex of the spectre's thighs.

Shepard's breathing was a bit strained and she reached out to grab any part of Liara that was close enough.

"Concentrate, love," Liara said, loving her sudden power, "when is this from?" To show what she meant, she leaned down and kissed the tattoo.

"Umm..." Shepard tried to respond even though Liara's kiss so high up on her thigh had caused her incapable of thinking for a moment. She couldn't believe that she had managed so long without letting Liara touch her; now she was finding that she couldn't get enough.

"It was my second tattoo," sigh, " a few months before I joined the Alliance," her breath hitched as Liara kissed higher on her thigh, "I had never been to space before but when hearing about it I..." gasp, "I thought that Omega sounded like a place I could fit it."

Liara chuckled softly with her lips still close to Shepard's skin, her breath warm but still causing goosebumps.

"So what happened?" She said as she kissed higher and higher, Shepard gasping and doing everything she could to not fold and guide Liara's head where she wanted it.

"I didn't get to Omega," Shepard said, "I joined the Alliance instead... I... fuck, Liara, stop teasing me."

Liara couldn't help but laugh softly at her lover's plight. Shepard had had her in the same predicament several times and revenge was sweet. The asari couldn't keep this up for too long, however, not with her price so close to her mouth; she had dreamt of taking Shepard in her mouth for weeks and couldn't belive her human would finally let her.

She moved forward, eager. Kissing and biting and licking as she made her way up Shepard's leg. She moved her body so that she was lying on her stomach between Shepard's legs and felt a surge of arousal when Shepard equally eager spread her legs giving Liara access.

Shepard's abdomen tensed as Liara reached her goal and the asari couldn't help but be slightly hypnotized by the play of stomach muscles she could finally see. She had felt the muscles before and been awed by them but never unclothed and she couldn't help but find them quite exquisite. There was nothing that made the asari feel safer than having her strong commander on top of her. But it was also wonderful, if not equally so, to return pleasure and Liara hoped that Shepard would let her do this again, and again, and again.

...

"Godess," Liara breathed, resting her now sticky cheek on the inside of Shepard's thigh, "Shepard... that was amazing."

Shepard opened her eyes and met Liara's. She knew now that letting Liara see her naked had been more than the right choice. The spectre had also enjoyed showing Liara different parts of her history, even though there was still one marking that Liara hadn't seen yet. Liara's fascination with Shepard's scars and tattoos had not been lost on Shepard and she had saved the biggest one for last.

"_You_ were amazing," Shepard corrected her, "come here." Liara gladly obliged, gliding along the human's body until they were lying pressed against each other on the bed. Shepard kissed the top of her head, her eyelids and the tip of her nose before planting one on her lips. Their kiss deepened and Liara hummed pleasantly, feeling desire rise in her. She wanted Shepard again. The human knew this but had one last thing to share.

"This day is turning out so much better than I thought it was going to be," Liara said absentmindedly as she fingered the scar on Shepard's chest, "thank you for sharing your past with me. Thank you for letting me see your scars, thank you for..."

Shepard silenced her with a deep kiss and then smiled at her. She gently pushed Liara off and then stood up, ignoring the asari's protests.

"Wait," Shepard said and grinned, "I have saved the best for last."

She turned around giving Liara her bare back. Apart from some recent scrapes and scars on her shoulder and the back of both arms, there was only skin showing and Liara silently wondered what it was that her human wanted to show her.

But then Shepard let her biotics flare Liara had to hold back a gasp. Shepard's back wasn't bare but rather adorned with a glowing, blue, swirling thresher maw.

"Shepard," Liara whispered, "what is that thing?" Whatever it was that she had expected, it wasn't this.

Shepard turned around, biotics still flaring over her arms, legs and torso as she leaned forward and slowly started crawling over the asari. She smiled wickedly.

"Oh this?" She said in a casual voice, "I got this because it's _cool_."

Liara suppressed a lagh and Shepard grinned, leaning down to kiss her lover once more.

**The end**


End file.
